Now that we’ve reached the point where Donald Trump’s own guy Mike Flynn is asking for immunity in exchange for testifying in Trump’s Russia scandal, the question is whether things are at the point of no return. To that end, the former chairman of the Republican Party is now saying that Trump won’t finish his term, and he’s advising others to proceed under that assumption and plan accordingly.

West Wing Reports spoke with Michael Steele, who was the RNC Chair from 2009 to 2011 and has since gone on to become an MSNBC commentator. WWR then went on to tweet the following:

Former chairman of RNC Steele told WWR at lunch that Trump will not finish his term; advises clients to bolster ties w/VP Pence

So this means that yet another prominent voice in politics – and one from the conservative Republican side no less – now views Donald Trump’s ouster as a matter of when and not if. Steele didn’t specify whether he’s expecting Trump to resign or be impeached. My own expectation continues to be that if Trump’s approval rating drops below the thirty precent mark, he’ll find himself fully devoid of political capital and trapped in a downward spiral from which he’ll know he has no chance at recovering. And Trump, who has bankrupted his own failing businesses six times just to get out from under them, has long demonstrated that he’s willing to walk away when he knows he’s lost.

If Trump doesn’t resign, and the Democrats take the House majority in the midterms, impeachment proceedings (on charges ranging from Russia to his financial corruption) would likely begin immediately. House impeachment hearings are typically a long process, and the subsequent impeachment trial in the Senate could take just as long. But again, such proceedings could lead Trump to realize he’s lost and simply resign, blaming others for it and then convincing himself that he won by losing. In the mean time, the Russia scandal has progressed such that operatives like Michael Steele are telling their allies to work under the assumption that Trump won’t finish his term. Contribute to Palmer Report